Squawks & Headlines ✈ General ✈ Popular (This Week)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Air safety investigators have a "high degree of confidence" that aircraft debris found in the Indian Ocean is of a wing component unique to the Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year, a U.S. official said Wednesday. (news.yahoo.com) More...

U.S. transportation security officials are investigating how a man was able to pass through a security checkpoint without a ticket at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and board a commercial airliner, airport officials said on Monday. An airline agent discovered what happened before the flight departed and called airport police, who arrested the man on criminal trespassing charges, the airport said. (www.reuters.com) More...

An Allegiant Air flight ran dangerously low on fuel last week as it circled an airport in North Dakota that was actually closed so the Navy's Blue Angels could practice for an upcoming air show. (www.tampabay.com) More...

Vietnam low-cost carrier VietJet Air has taken delivery of a high-density Airbus A321 aircraft equipped with 230 passenger seats. The airline says this is the first A321 equipped with this seat density. The A321 had previously been restricted to 220 seats and central European budget airline Wizz Air will also be taking the high-density A321 later this year. (www.flightglobal.com) More...

First things first; I am sick and tired of all the A380 hate. I get it; it’s not made by Boeing and doesn’t fit the U.S. major route network. Here’s the thing: that doesn’t make it a terrible aircraft and an absolute aviation sin. I am tired of reading comments from people saying, “Since Delta never ordered it, it must be too big.” No one also wants to hear your comments about how the A380 only works for “government-subsidized airlines,” or, “how all the other airlines that operate it regret… (www.airlinereporter.com) More...

"Although the airline only has added 41 aircraft to its fleet in the last 10 years (from 234 aircraft in 2005 to 275 aircraft in 2015) the types of aircraft have changed as seen in the infographic below..." (aviationweek.com) More...

New York’s LaGuardia Airport will get more than a makeover, based on a plan announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo Monday. The $4 billion plan calls for demolishing the existing terminals and building one massive new terminal the length of two football fields approximately 600 feet (183 meters) closer to the Grand Central Parkway. The relocation will give the airport badly needed space for flight operations and taxiways. (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

In less than two decades, Airbus’s concept for the VoltAir E-Fan could spawn a new family of 100-seat regional airliners with a hybrid-electric propulsion system anchored by diesel engines sending 6MW of power to a row of electric thrusters. The potential 100-seat aircraft is still early in the design phase, but Airbus already appears to be leaning toward a familiar configuration. (www.flightglobal.com) More...

Hillview, Kentucky resident William H. Merideth describes his weekend: "Sunday afternoon, the kids – my girls – were out on the back deck, and the neighbors were out in their yard. And they come in and said, 'Dad, there's a drone out here, flying over everybody's yard.'" Merideth grabbed his shotgun and waited to see if the drone crossed over his property. When it did, he took aim and shot it out of the sky. The owners showed up shortly, and the police right after. He was arrested and… (www.wdrb.com) More...

BRISTOL — Kenosha County Sheriff’s officials say two men were killed when a Zenith CH601XL airplane (N9601), last known to be en route to EAA in Oshkosh crashed in Kenosha County. (fox6now.com) More...

Frontier Airlines announced plans to add flights from Philadelphia International Airport to Fort Myers, Florida and Montego Bay, Jamaica. Both flights will begin October 25, 2015... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he opposed the creation of an international tribunal to prosecute those who shot down a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine, hours before a U.N. vote on such a proposal. (news.yahoo.com) More...

Frontier Airlines, which in recent years has evolved into an ultralow discount air carrier, is expanding operations in Las Vegas. The Denver-based airline is announcing Tuesday that it will offer daily nonstop flights between McCarran International Airport and Milwaukee, Miami, San Francisco and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. (www.reviewjournal.com) More...

A beach cleaner has come across more debris which was found next to the B777 plane wing which was found a few days back a suitcase containing clothing and other items were found next to this big piece that was washed up on shore. Many of the island residents say they had seen the MAS B777 fly over low a year ago and it may have come down out at sea not far from the last sighting of MH370. But who is to say this belongs to the flight and just maybe it's possible the wreckage is near by and thing… (www.9news.com.au) More...

A North Texas businessman used the "Find My iPhone app" to find his phone in a pasture after it fell about 9,300 feet during a flight from Houston. Ben Wilson says his cellphone still works. Wilson, who owns Gas Corporation of America in Wichita Falls, and a pilot were in a Beechcraft Bonanza returning home Monday. (kxan.com) More...

British Airways announced a new procedure for boarding as well as a reduction in the size of hand baggage that can be brought onto the aircraft. The most significant change is to the order of in which passengers will board. Effective immediately, passengers will board based on two criteria:... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

A British Airways flight travelling from Las Vegas to London Heathrow has been diverted to Montreal after reports of a bomb threat. Photographs taken from the airport show a dozen police cars racing to flight BA274, carrying 312 passengers, which made an emergency landing at Trudeau Airport in Dorval at 5.47am local time. Montreal police and British Airways said the pilot made a request to land the plane following an 'emergency' during the flight. Read more:… (www.dailymail.co.uk) More...

Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants rejected a tentative agreement that had been negotiated between the airline and union. The Transport Workers Union Local 556 said that 87% of those who cast ballots rejected the deal and that 89% of eligible members voted.... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

Delta Air Lines announced an expansion of its partnership with China Eastern Airlines that includes taking an ownership stake in the airline. The partnership calls for the two airlines to “better connect” the two airlines’ route networks as well as for Delta to invest $450 million to acquire a 3.55% stake in China Eastern.... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

United Airlines, the world’s second largest airline, had its computer systems breached by hackers in the spring. The breach, which was not publicly reported, is believed to be the work of the same hackers who have hit other large targets in recent months ... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

Ryanair has asked four major European airlines to display each other's fares online in a bid to cut out third-party price comparison websites, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said on Monday. Ryanair's fares are displayed by airfare price comparison websites such as Google Flights and Expedia and competes with them by offering hotels and car hire on its own website. (uk.reuters.com) More...

Amazon on Tuesday laid out a proposal for how to regulate commercial drones in the US, suggesting that the government set aside a 200-foot-high stretch of the sky for the devices. The concept, presented at a NASA-hosted conference in the San Francisco Bay Area on unmanned aircraft systems, would designate the airspace at an altitude of between 200 feet and 400 feet as a high-speed transit area for commercial drones -- such as the delivery drones Amazon is developing -- with a no-fly buffer… (www.cnet.com) More...

The new head of the Transportation Security Administration vowed to tighten airport security, better train employees, and make security screenings “less invasive” for PreCheck members.... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

NASA scientists in a DC-8 and NOAA researchers in a P-3; depart from their temporary base at Salina Regional airport in Salina, KS to comb the skies over the great plains in search for hazardous weather. (www.kansascity.com) More...

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced an investigation into possible price gouging by five airlines. The agency is concerned that five airlines may have raised airfares in the Northeast following a deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May that disrupted rail service in the region..... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

Aer Lingus will debut a new premium cabin on its short-range UK and European flights towards the end of this year in an attempt to snare more of the business travel market. Dubbed Aer Space, the concept follows the 'EuroBusiness' model in which a standard economy class seating is marketed with add-on benefits designed to appeal to the corporate flyer. (www.ausbt.com.au) More...

On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that a co-pilot's mistake was to blame in the October 2014 crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which killed the co-pilot and injured the pilot over the Mojave Desert, where the craft was being tested. The NTSB added that Scaled Composites, the aerospace company that had built the SpaceShipTwo craft for Virgin Galactic and employed the two pilots, did not adequately consider the consequences of a human error such as the one… (arstechnica.com) More...

PARIS • France is confident of winning two more foreign orders for its Rafale fighter jet by the beginning of next year as it seeks to extend a spate of recent export successes, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. (www.stltoday.com) More...

MORE THAN A year ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from air traffic controller scopes on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The captain, with more than 18,000 hours of flight time, gave no warning and no mayday call. (www.wired.com) More...

An American Airlines flight that departed from Chicago and was headed to Orlando made an emergency landing Wednesday morning at Orlando International Airport after an engine indicator came on prior to landing, airport officials said. More information avaliable in link. (www.mynews13.com) More...

With much fanfare, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Pedestrian Tunnel opened Thursday. The tunnel, which was built under Toronto Harbor on Lake Ontario, provides a direct connection from the airport to downtown Toronto by a public-private partnership. It was built to decrease the amount of time it takes for passengers to get to the island airport and eliminate the need to travel to the airport by ferry... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) More...

Four people died when a business jet crashed at a private airport in Hampshire and ploughed into an adjacent car auction centre, police have said. The pilot of the aircraft and the three passengers (members of the Bin Laden family) all died, while no one on the ground was killed. The Phenom 300, a light aircraft with space for up to nine passengers and thought to be worth £6m, crashed as it attempted to land at Blackbushe airport, seven miles north-west of Farnborough, a spokesman for the… (www.theguardian.com) More...